It's been a long time since I've found a fighting game that I like. It seems as if the older I get, the more I require that the games I play are somewhat phenomenal. I played Street Fighter 4, and I was basically unimpressed. It still can't compare to Street Fighter 2. I've played the Soul Caliburs. They're not very exciting. BlazBlue (which is pronounced Blaze Blue), on the other hand, seems to be doing something right.

What you'll notice initially about BlazBlue (which is available for the XBOX 360 and Playstation 3) is that it is Guilty Gear. The resemblance is far from remarkable considering that both were created by Arc System Works/Aksys. Which isn't a problem considering that Guilty Gear was good. Very good. The second thing you'll notice is that it's really easy to do special attacks. These attacks, called drives, can be used with the press of a single button. Kind of like Super Smash Brothers, which was also good. The end result is that BlazBlue is Guilty Gear crossed with Super Smash Brothers. I find this concept to be most intriguing.

Gameplay

Gameplay is by far the most important thing in a fighting game. It is important to be able to make your character move how you think it should move. BlazBlue is not completely helpful in this regard. Character recovery is quite a bit slower than in Guilty Gear, but this can be fixed by playing better. But since, I don't want to have to play better to recover properly, this is a problem for me. Aside from that, the controls work great. The drive system allows you to easily control and attack without too much effort. Combo attacks have varying difficulties, but it's nothing that you couldn't learn. Blocking is limited, which isn't a bad thing, though I find that I often mispress and end up burning all my shields at once. If we disregard my inability to play, we'll see that the system is pretty solid.

I rate the gameplay an 8/10, because I want faster recovery.

Story

The game has a story. It's basically incomprehensible. But, it's a fighting game. So, who cares? Not me.

I rate the story a 1/1 for having one.

Sound

I'm actually less than enchanted with the game's sound. I believe that this is because I never hear it. The sound effects are pretty loud, and they overpower the actual game music. In doing this, I am very aware that I am playing a game. I've actually struggled to hear the music, and it's just impossible while playing. Given that the game has a soundtrack, I assume that the music is good. But even still, it doesn't draw me in.

I rate the sound a 6/10 because it didn't annoy me, but it didn't call to me.

Characters

Having characters you want to play is the heart of a successful game. This is true regardless of genre, but in a fighting game it is of utmost important. BlazBlue has good characters. You have an ice swordsman, a devil swordsman, a future robot swordsman, the giant angry looking guy, a robot girl, a girl with guns, a guy with a doll, a weird Miyazaki looking thing, a vampire, a cat girl, a boobilicious girl, and what is possibly a cross between an entertainer and a ninja. A ninjatainer, if you will. Out of those, there are only a few that I have absolutely no interest in ever playing. Unfortunately, since there are only twelve characters, a few is about 25%. That's not a good thing.

I rate the characters a 9/12, since I like 9/12 of them.

Graphics

When I said the first thing you would notice was that BlazBlue was Guilty Gear, what I meant was that the first thing you would notice is that BlazBlue is incredibly pretty. Your jaw will drop from how well the background art is rendered. The characters are pretty good too, and watching breasts jiggle can sometimes be distracting. (Though, I find that to be true in most aspects in life.) The graphics are immeasurably detailed, and seem to be showing off what video game consoles can produce. It's all very impressive.

I rate the graphics a 15/10. I'm writing the review, and I can do that.

Overall 39/43 = 90.6%

I guess individual scores don't matter, especially considering that I just make things up as I go along. What's important is the overall game experience. And...the game is fun. Really fun, in fact. I rarely play console games these days, but I've devoted a fair amount of time to this one. I imagine that I will continue devoting time to this one. So, if you're into fighting games, I highly suggest BlazBlue. Just remember one thing, Jin is a damned cheater.